Ecosystems Targeted Grade Level -- 5 Developed by National Science Resource Center Distributed by Carolina Biological

Ecosystems Module Overview

Ecosystems helps students understand the relationships between plants and animals and the interdependence of living things and their environment. Students set up an aquarium into which they introduce snails and guppies, and a terrarium into which they add crickets, isopods, and grass, mustard, and alfalfa seeds. Students connect the bottles to create an "ecocolumn" that enables them to observe the relationship between the two environments. Students set up class ecocolumns that do not contain animals and use them to investigate the effects of pollutants on an environment. They then use a "food chain" wheel to make inferences about the effects these pollutants might have on their own miniature ecosystems. Later, students read about, explore, and discuss the Chesapeake Bay as a model ecosystem. They analyze this environment from the viewpoint of various users--waterman, dairy farmer, land developer, recreational boater, and resident--and present their findings to the class. The activity enables students to appreciate the trade-offs that must be made to reach mutually acceptable solutions to environmental problems.

Descriptions of the Science and Technology for Children ^tm (STC) units © 1997 National Academy of Sciences. Reproduced with permission from the National Science Resources Center (NSRC), Washington, DC. For more information about the STC ^tm program and other NSRC programs and activities visit the NSRC web site. For information on ordering the STC ^tm curriculum visit the Carolina Biological Supply Company web site. These module pages were initially created by Barbara Harris, Scottsboro City Schools, and Reba Turk, Morgan County Schools. Please address comments or questions to hasp@dcs.edu

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